Intrahousehold Bargaining Among Women Workers in Thailand’s Northern Region Industrial Estate
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study specifically evaluated the effects of women’s participation in Export Processing
Zones (EPZs) on women’s bargaining power by using Thailand’s Northern Region Industrial
Estate (NRIE) as a case study. It explored how EPZ employment affects NRIE women workers’
bargaining power. The empirical findings show that NRIE work provides opportunities for
women to be included in formal employment, which brings higher earning to NRIE women
workers compared with lower earning of hired women workers. Therefore, NRIE employment
decomposes women’s subordination by increasing the economic contribution of women within
their households. However, the economic contribution of NRIE women workers does not
radically increase NRIE women workers’ intrahousehold bargaining power vis-à-vis their
husbands. Household income keeping, control and management as well as household decision
making and housework allocation do not tend towards a more egalitarian status in households.
Although NIRE women workers are relatively well-off compared to hired women workers, they
are more subservient under an age hierarchy in households due to the strong influence of
matrilineality and matrifocality.
Article Details
Copyright to published manuscripts becomes the property of the Graduate School of Development Economics, National Institute of Development Administration. Reproduction of all or part of a Development Economic Review (DER) article by anyone, excluding author(s), is prohibited, unless receiving our permission.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in articles published in this journal are those of the author (s) and do nto necessarily represent opinions of the Graduate School of Development Economics, National Institute of Development Administration. Trade and proprietary names are only for identification and not constitute our endorsement.